We're at the point in our trip where you have to write the DAY as well as the date because you start forgetting what day of the week it is. We are also at the part of the trip where we are beginning to look forward to getting home to our own bed, showers, kitties, familiarities.
Yeah, we're tired. I thought we were getting too cranky too easily. So we decided that we would truly become Spaniards: do 1 easy sight-seeing thing, end around 3 or 4, come back to the apartment and take a siesta. Then we'd get up, go out to dinner and call it a day. We don't want to spoil a fab vacation with a terrible couple of last days. And this schedule is so easy to do here, as it was in Paris. I'm still not used to the skies still being light at 9:30 pm. And dusk only beginning around 10pm. It gets light at 5am and stays that way for the next 17 hours.
I can see our schedule working -- strange, though, how you have to give yourself permission to take it easy on vacation. Like you have to go go go or you'll be wasting your money.
But even with a slower pace, we're getting a real taste of Barcelona. Sunday was a good example, as we got to experience two iconic Barcelona sights.
In the morning, I finally got to Park Guell. Not sure how I missed it 3 years ago, but there you have it. So off we went. The weather here in Barcelona -- perhaps all of Spain -- is unpredictable. Bright blue sky overhead, no clouds, but gee, way off in the distance, look at that big puffy thunderhead that's turning a little darker gray than we'd like.......
And so by the time we reached Park Guell, that big gray cloud was overhead. And, yeah, it did rain on us. But fortunately, not a downpour kind of rain that soaks you through and through. More of an Arizona "6 inch rain". You know, a drop here, 6 inches later another drop, etc etc. It was a Barcelona 2 inch rain. And frankly, I was worried about being too hot in the sun because Saturday was a bear walking around La Rambla in sun & heat. Now I got to walk around and climb stairs with no direct sun, a nice cool light rain and breeze. It made touring the grounds very easy. And the rain was over in about 15 minutes and partly cloudy skies remained. A good day to walk.
Not that much to say about Gaudi except that his works are whimsical, intriguing and, well, a little gaudy (which, I understand is where the term came from). Here are some photos that perhaps prove the point:
That's the Mediterranean Sea in the background there. It's really a gorgeous sight up there.
This is Gaudi's iconical lizard, seen on many of the postcards and posters advertising the park. Awfully cute. And very popular. Took me a loooooong time to get a photo without another tourist standing in front of it.
This is one of the more coherent designs put on the back of a wall.
This was one of several designs on the ceiling of one section in the Gaudi area. When you see you this, you realize how much work goes into any one piece. There just are no big chunks of stone.
In another section are flowers, so I tried my hand at photographing lavender. It smelled luscious and I would have stayed there all day smelling it, but the bees thought it was luscious as well.
After our siesta (what a fabulous idea the Spaniards have there. I'll have to do more of it when back in Phoenix. I've been resisting for too long), we ventured out to view the "Magic Fountain of Montjuic" which we had been told is indeed magical and a "must see". The fountain was first built in 1929 for the World's Fair that was held in Barcelona (what ever happened to "World's Fairs" anyway?), and renovated just before the 1992 Olympics held here.
It goes from 9:30pm to 11:00pm (and beyond if Sunday was any indication) - Thursday through Sundays in the summer. It also operates in the winter, but shorter hours and only weekends. This was our only chance to see the water show. We were both thinking "okay, Bellagio, but we'll check it out."
Well, omg, because it was fabulous. The waters were just wonderful and the combinations they put together were very artistic. Surprisingly, you just didn't get bored watching for 90+ minutes. You were just fascinated at all the different combinations that could be put together. Most people watched the waters through their small iPhone lenses or their big Canon lenses (seems everyone has purchased the Canon Rebel DSLR). I resisted the temptation and tried to just take it all in through my eyes and little else.
Alas, I succumbed and here are my results. They don't do this experience justice, but hopefully the photos will give you a taste of what enthralled us for over 90 minutes:
Sometimes the water looked very crisp and sharp, sometimes the water looked like fog. Sometimes it was beautifully white, sometimes, it was colorized. It was constantly changing and we marveled at what great entertainment it turned out to be.
Steps for the day = 13,765
Total for trip = 221,387
Can I make it to 250,000? We are getting veerrry lazy now and using elevators to emerge from the Metro and we're are doing less each day. Still, we are only 29,000 steps away. We shall see, we shall see. Since I don't really count walking around the apartment once we return for the day, I'll probably call it 250K even if my Fitbit doesn't.
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